30 SECONDS WITH ANDY VAN SLYKE; The Cubs' Curse, Writ Large

By ALAN SCHWARZ

Published: October 3, 2010

Andy Van Slyke, a former major league outfielder, once joked that a movie made about him would be named ''The Summer of 4-to-3.'' But first comes his first novel, ''The Curse,'' written with the St. Louis sportswriter Rob Rains, in which the Cubs are churning toward their first World Series since 1945 before fate intervenes. So much for suspension of disbelief. In Van Slyke's version of Chicago tragedy, the charter plane carrying the first-place Cubs crashes, killing the entire organization except for two players. The team is a patchwork of players from other teams who soldier on together, while the crash becomes a backdrop whodunit. Clue: it isn't Steve Bartman. ALAN SCHWARZ

Q.Have you always wanted to write?

A. I never thought I'd write a book, given that I got C's in English. But I've always had a curiosity about human nature and life. I've always had an imagination.

Q.Why the Cubs? Because you broke in with the archrival Cardinals?

A. It's an amazing fact that the Cubs draw 41,000 every night and they don't win it all. I just found the whole Cubs world an interesting phenomenon. I don't think there's anything like it in baseball -- people feeling as passionate as they do about the Cubs. It's about relationships. And that's what the book is about. It's about the ugliness of human nature, about overcoming the ugliness of human nature, and about the ultimate curse that Cubs Nation has to overcome.

Q. How did you split the work?

A. Let's just say I type with two index fingers. It would have taken me years. I had a lot of ideas -- I knew what the story was. I knew what the beginning and end were. It was a matter of filling it in. He structured it, but I created the story.

Q.One of the prominent Cubs players happens to be the great-great-grandson of Jimmy Slagle, the center fielder of the 1908 Cubs -- the North Side's last champions. Did you enjoy weaving history into a novel?

A. There's a historical part of the Cubs that's really pretty neat. Even if you aren't that interested in sports, you'll find the historical facts true in the book.

Q. What happened to ''''The Summer of 4-to-3''? Do any hitters roll over a lot?

A. Oh, man -- I probably should have had a player who was a reflection of me, but I didn't do that. I tried to create new characters. But at the same time, the first Cubs manager, who doesn't see the end of the season, and the second manager, they're completely different.

Q. Which one is Jim Leyland, and which is Whitey Herzog?

A. Well, I'm not going to tell you. Except it's not one of those guys.